In another example of how corporate mergers lead to downgrades in customer service, SBC, the parent company of Cingular, who recently bought AT&T Wireless, has started arbitrarily blocking Port 25 outgoing e-mail traffic from third party servers. So if you own your own domain name and host it with someone other than SBC, but connect to the Net through SBC’s DSL, you’ll wake up one day unable to send e-mail. The remedy? You’ve got to go to a special page and request that your domain be exempted from the blanket blocking.

What a colossal waste of time, and what corporate hubris. For my part, I’ll be dumping SBC DSL as soon as my contract is up. Apparently, they’re too busy “maximizing shareholder value” to care about little guys. This little guy will be flipping them the bird, and I suggest you do the same.

We’d all love to win the lottery, but not if we have to pay money up front or surrender bank account information. This is exactly what happens to consumers who are victims of a lottery scam.

ConsumerWebWatch.org has a must read Special Feature Consumer Investigation Report on Foreign Lottery Scams.

Two timeshare sellers and their telemarketer will pay more than $500,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they violated the Do Not Call Rule by calling thousands of consumers who placed their phone numbers on the FTC’s Do Not Call Registry. The Registry currently contains more than 85 million numbers. Under the settlement, the timeshare sellers are barred from violating the Do Not Call Registry in the future. Two individuals who own the telemarketing company that made calls for the timeshare sellers are banned from owning or controlling any telemarketing operation in the future.

Read the Full Release from The Federal Trade Commission.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Tallahassee, FL — February 16, 2005 — Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson today announced that Florida Smoked Fish of Miami is recalling its packages of The Boy’s Farmer Market brand of “Smoked Nova Salmon” because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems.

Although healthy persons may suffer only short term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women, or the baby may be born with listeriosis.

The recalled “Smoked Nova Salmon” was distributed nationwide. The “Smoked Nova Salmon” comes in a clear, plastic wrapped, 1 pound package with a use-by date of 4/24/05, batch 31997. No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this problem.

The contamination was noted after testing by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services revealed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the “Smoked Nova Salmon.” Production of the product has been suspended while the company continues its investigation as to the source of the problem.

Consumers who have purchased “Smoked Nova Salmon” are urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumer with questions may contact Mr. Irvin Norfleet at (305) 621-7600, extension 143.

FDA and Wyeth notified healthcare professionals of revisions to the CONTRAINDICATIONS, WARNINGS/Use in Pediatric Patients, and DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION sections of the prescribing information for Phenergan. Phenergan is contraindicated for use in pediatric patients less than two years of age because of the potential for fatal respiratory depression. Postmarketing cases of respiratory depression including fatalities, have been reported with use of Phenergan in pediatric patients less than two years of age. Caution should also be exercised when administering Phenergan to pediatric patients two years of age and older.

FDA and the Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories announced a recall of one lot of Similac Advance with Iron powdered infant formula in 12.9-ounce cans, Lot Number 20307RB due to the presence of black plastic particles reported in a small number of cans. The particles are the result of an isolated manufacturing event that has already been corrected. No serious health or safety reports have been received that are attributed to this situation. This formula was distributed between September 15, 2004 and October 18, 2004 primarily in the Eastern half of the United States and in Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri.

Medtronic, Inc. and FDA advised physicians about a potential battery shorting mechanism that may occur in a subset of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) models. In a letter to physicians, Medtronic reported that batteries have experienced rapid battery depletion due to this shorting action. If shorting occurs, battery depletion can take place within a few hours to a few days, after which there is loss of device function. There are no reported patient injuries or deaths. Devices with batteries manufactured between April 2001 and December 2003 may exhibit this shorting action. Potentially affected models are the Marquis™ VR/DR and Maximo™ VR/DR ICDs and the InSync I/II/III Marquis™ and InSync III Protect™ CRT-D devices.

FDA issued a Public Health Advisory to notify healthcare professionals that Health Canada, the Canadian drug regulatory agency, has suspended the sale of Adderall XR in the Canadian market. Adderall XR is a controlled release amphetamine used to treat patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The Canadian action was based on U.S. post-marketing reports of sudden deaths in pediatric patients. FDA is continuing to evaluate these and other post-marketing reports of serious adverse events in children, adolescents, and adults being treated with Adderall and related products. Adderall XR is approved in the United States for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients 6-12 years old with ADHD, and Adderall, the immediate release formulation of the drug, is approved for pediatric patients with ADHD.

Shire and FDA notified healthcare professionals about changes to the CONTRAINDICATIONS and WARNINGS sections of the prescribing information for Agrylin (anagrelide hydrochloride), a medication approved for the treatment of thrombocythemia secondary to myeloproliferative disorders to reduce platelet count and the risk of thrombosis and to ameliorate associated symptoms including thrombohemorrhagic events. Pharmacokinetic studies have revealed an 8-fold increase in total exposure (AUC) to anagrelide hydrochloride in patients with moderate hepatic impairment. Use of anagrelide hydrochloride has not been studied in patients with severe hepatic impairment. Labeling changes include the contraindication to the use of Agrylin in patients with severe hepatic impairment. The WARNINGS section describes the need for dosage reduction in patients with moderate hepatic impairment and the necessity of monitoring these patients carefully for cardiovascular effects.

Roche and FDA notified healthcare professionals about an Important drug interaction warning. Drug-induced hepatitis with marked transaminase elevations has been observed in healthy volunteers receiving rifampin 600 mg once daily in combination with ritonavir 100 mg/saquinavir 1000 mg twice daily (ritonavir boosted saquinavir). Roche now advises prescribers that Rifampin should not be administered to patients also receiving saquinavir/ritonavir (ritonavir boosted
saquinavir) as part of combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV infection.